The Crumbs Project

 13th October

The first teaser poster for the webcomic

For my Level 6 course, Creative Practice, I am planning on making Crumbs into a webcomic. The next few months, aside from other projects, are going to revolve around me researching webcomics and pigeons, developing the story and characters, designing the webpage and working on the proposal and dissertation.

As a side project, I also want to work on a short animation featuring one of my Crumbs characters trying to reach the other side of the road. This will probably add web animation to my list of research as well.

If all goes according to plan, I will have both the webcomic and short animation go live around May 2013.


17th October

New teaser poster, also featuring the new Crumbs title design and new character Jay, who will be developed at a future date. Personally more pleased with this design. Research work to follow.

3rd November

Concept artwork of Blue and Jay- experiment with colour and autumn themes.

4th November

Line up of main cast. Character Sheets to shortly follow.

More information and reflection in this blog entry: http://emmafriel.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/crumbs-character-line-up.html


22nd November

My presentation was today and I believe I was successful for the most part, covering the majority of what I intended to. I was questioned a bit on the whole income part and budget so I reckon I should look more into that. It's admittedly something I've overlooked for the most part as gaining profit isn't a priority with the comic. But everything else they seemed to be happy with.

My proposal has also been handed in a day early so I don't have to go in tomorrow. Saves money for train fare and I get to have a lie in. Getting up at 7am was killer after a long time of forgetting that time even existed. Anyway, I digress. I hope that the proposal is good enough to get a pass at the very least. Writing what I want to do and why I want to do it isn't a strength of mine (this blog should be proof of that) and it makes me nervous to think that the dissertation still needs to be done.

Anyway, let's get to the real meet of this entry: the character sheets.

They're finally done. Also without typos.

6th December

Marks for Project Proposal and Viva modules acquired. Passed Proposal with Average Outcome (58%) and VIVA with Satisfactory Outcome (48%). I aim to achieve 60% and keep Above Average so while I passed, I feel I can achieve better than this. Aiming to keep at Above Average standard throughout from now on!

14th December

Throughout this week as I am beginning work on developing the story, characters and relationships, I decided a good way to explore this would be through concept art. I intend to work on the writing aspects very soon but I consider myself to be quite a visual person and actually seeing the scenery, characters and so on are a must in helping me portray as much as I can correctly through writing.

Here is the work I have done over the week. I aimed to get one finished piece of work a day at least and I am proud to say I have achieved that. In this entry, I am going to discuss the piece, the general idea behind it and what I like about it as well as anything I feel I could improve upon.

Tweak's Flashback

Heh, sorry to say we’re starting on a bit of a sad note with this one. I can’t recall whether I was experiencing anything particularly gruelling emotionally to come up with this result. All I know was that I wanted to get more practice drawing a squab (baby pigeon to those not in the know) and explore a bit of Tweak’s psyche, showing why he is as paranoid and twitchy as he is. Whether this is just a horrible nightmare or an actual flashback of his hasn’t been decided yet. But it would certainly make a lot of sense as well as explain a lot about Tweak.

This picture was challenging in the sense that I’m not known for drawing anything particularly violent or macabre and I wanted to see what I was capable of on that front. I also wanted to create something that, while you didn’t see the full horror of what was going on, you’d get the idea from the shadow, blood and tearful baby pigeon. Ashleigh gave me the idea to make the shadow a red shade, which ended up being the reason most of the picture has a red tone. I think it works quite nicely for the most part.

 I like to think I’ve managed to achieve that and I’m certainly not disappointed in my first try but I think I need more practice and more opportunities to create such a piece. I’m also a bit worried that as effective as the red tone is, it’s distracting from Tweak, who is meant to be one of the main focuses.

Cold But Warm

Drawn to make Rachel not kill me after making Tweak suffer such a horrifying vision and also to explore some of Tweak and Lilac’s relationship. Lilac has a very strong protective mother hen instinct with all of her friends and will always protect any weaker pigeon she comes across. This leads to Tweak becoming very close to her and adopting her as something of a surrogate mother, although this is neither confirmed or denied by the two. I don’t recall exactly why the picture became so winter themed but I’m going to assume I was cold at the time. Besides, it seems quite fitting.

I always want to improve my backgrounds and actually create a world for the pigeons to live in rather than have them float in midair in a void of nothingness. I think I’ve done quite well in creating a wintery early morning setting with that little bit of frost in the air. I actually feel a bit chilly looking at this... although that could just be the fact that I’m freezing at the moment.

I still need to get better at backgrounds and I’m a bit worried Lilac is quite hard to spot, blending in slightly with the sky.

I'm Outta Here

You might remember the sketch of Pink flying I did in Scotland last week.  It’s now been coloured and I decided to throw in a background and Green. Because... why not I suppose. This one didn’t really have any particular character interaction in mind, just an everyday scene you’d expect to see of a pigeon but with Pink and Green instead. Although I suppose you could say Pink got tired of Green’s bullshit and flew away. Whatever floats your boat.

I was quite lazy with this one I feel as I didn’t really have much to show in the background. It’s an angled shot looking up at the sky, all of which you can see clouds, sky and the corner of a building. I quite like the clouds and Pink and Green’s poses but other than that, there’s nothing particularly spectacular to mention, I think.

Flying High

This one needs a lot of context. It’s Rachel’s fault. On the way home from college on Wednesday night, she was saying how cruel I was to draw the ‘Tweak’s Flashback’ image and said that I could have put his paranoia and nervousness to a coke addiction- meaning the drink. With this hilarious understanding in mind, we both came up with the idea that Green, badgered by Lilac, decides to do something nice for Tweak and realises he has a love for coca cola. However, due to a misunderstanding, he ends up acquiring a bag of the powdered drug instead. He mistakes it for sugar, coming to the conclusion that “Eh, coke is mostly sugar anyway so what’s the difference?”

After Tweak has some, Green becomes curious and tries it as well... and... well... this. And yes, this is going to be in the comic. Goddamnit, Rachel.

This one took me all of Thursday to do. I had a bit of difficulty with the space background as I didn’t want it to appear juvenile but not too complex or busy either. I wanted to make it obvious they were (or believed they were) in space, totally tripping balls. I’m happy with the lighting and shading, I believe I’m improving on that part. Also, those faces crack me up.

Crumbs Secondary Character Line Up

Here we have some new character designs, although the middle one you may recognise if you’ve been following this blog for longer than a year. Scarlet’s design, mainly the legs, have been revamped. In all honesty, I didn’t really have much of an idea of what to do with her character from the beginning, hence why she hasn’t made much of an appearance until now. However, I’ve always intended to have her in the series and have been working on developing her post haste. I will also discuss a little bit about the three pigeon’s relationships with one another.

Scarlet is a Pouter pigeon that has been shown in many pigeon shows and won many awards due to her unique form. Now, she intends to bring down the Breadwinners, enlisting Blue’s help and training her to become an effective fighter should things get nasty. She has a very low opinion of Ginger, seeing him as a “snivelling brown beaking coward”, not worthy of her time or sympathy. Putting her views of the Dove Above aside, she is fond of Hope and admires her ability to forgive others for what they’ve done. Scarlet is much more likely to hold a grudge.

The other two pigeons have not been introduced before. The one on the left is named Ginger (different from Underdog Ginger, I should stress), a tumbler pigeon working in the breadwinner society. He is aware of their corrupt behaviour but his need to feel respected and admired is higher than his morals and principles. Because of this contributing to his low self image, he is quite easily offended, paranoid of other pigeons opinions of him and prone to hopping on anyone’s back if they disagree with him or voice their low view of the Breadwinners. He comes across as despising Blue but is secretly jealous of her bravery towards the society. He is quite cowardly, easily mislead and despises himself for getting in too deep with the society. Ginger is terrified of Scarlet, secretly relieved that she keeps away from him as much as possible. He has strong romantic feelings for Hope but feels that due to his self hatred and position in the Breadwinners that he is not worthy of her.

The one on the right is Hope, a devout believer in the Dove Above. Born from a 'long pure bloodline' of doves, she lives her life by the stories and morals that the Dove has taught. However, she is aware that they are not to be taken literally and what tales are outdated, which has her at odds with her family and say the Dove punished those thoughts with her disability, where she was born without front toes leaving her vulnerable to attack. This is one reason as to why she avoids physical conflict (although she keeps her beak sharp if need be) but it is mainly due to the fact that she doesn't want to spread anymore fear or hatred in the world as “there is more than enough already”. She is kind, accepting of others regardless of lifestyle and very forgiving but she can be quite wary of anything new or unusual, preferring to avoid Jay. She admires Scarlet’s bravery but is slightly scared of her and disagrees with her methods, especially disliking that Blue is her student in combat. While she doesn't agree with the Breadwinners or Ginger’s general attitude, she feels he is worthy of redemption... but that he needs to realise that for himself.

Christmas card design has also been shared on the blog.

16th December

Blue, Jay and Green character sheets updated, due to story changes.

25th January 2013


I've been experimenting with Jay's design and mannerisms a bit more. He's something of a freak of nature and I thought it would be an interesting concept to have him be able to use his wings like hands whereas the other pigeons can't. So I had fun coming up with how that would look.

I also experimented with the rough style again, which my friend Ingrid seemed to like. I do as well. Looks snazzy.

And finally, today I not only finished my first Crumbs t-shirt design but uploaded it to Redbubble to sell! This is where I will be putting up all the designs when they are done. I intend to have a shirt for each main character as well as a possible group shot.

Shirt can be purchased HERE!

13th February

Results for Project Planning module acquired. Passed with Above Average Outcome (63%). Very satisfied, reaching my goal. Hoping to maintain this standard.

As well as this, rough work for my Development Portflio module is presented below with accompanying commentary.

Potential front page artwork for the first arc.
Quite happy with the overall look, I don't believe I did too bad on the perspective. Need more practice on the buildings though.

Jay being sassy.
Just come character exploration, in all honesty. I considered using it as a t-shirt design but it doesn't feel 'lively' enough, if that even makes sense. I may be using an older design for Jay's shirt. Stick around.

Blue with a new look for her legs.
I'm not sure about it for the normal sized pigeons.  The look works fine for Scarlet and V/Fawkes (who will be introduced later) but less so for the others, I think. Might try it a bit more before I make up my mind for sure though.
No, she's not looking at Jay's crotch. I really didn't think this placement through.
She looks quite unimpressed/disgusted. This amuses me more than it should.

Potential gag comic idea that came out of nowhere. Green's weight is something of a recurring joke.But c'mon, he BIG. I thought it would be humorous for Tweak, who is lighter than a twig, to be catapulted through a tree branch with Green being a dick about it.
I really like the layout, the motion seems to come across nicely and, for some reason, I especially love the CRUNCH! effect. I think this comic might be one I won't have to make many changes to bar from speechbubble text and overall detail. And colour, obviously.

Yes, Crumbs has a pug now. Don't look at me like that, it was bound to happen eventually.
Just some daft character reaction/expressions/attempt to draw a pugs proportions more realistically. As the pigeon's proportions are realistic for the most part, I need to make sure the pug fits in or he'll stick out like a sore thumb. More so.

Here, the shape of the legs look much better in my opinion. It helps her look taller, which pouter pigeons generally are from what I've seen.
I really want to colour this, it's one of my favourite Scarlet pictures to date.

I follow the Pigeon Jon account on twitter and one tweet was about him crapping on a chihuahua and it going absolutely mental. I couldn't resist drawing it out. And, I'm not ashamed to admit it, I'm sniggering right now. Love it. I think it's the fact that you don't actually see the chihuahua going nuts but rather the pigeon's reactions to it that makes it funny? Or maybe I'm just a sad sack that laughs at her own jokes. Hey, someone has to!

For the most part, the finished result will stay the same but I think I need to practice drawing the chihuahua a bit more. Same as with the pug, I want it's proportions to fit in with the world so I need a bit more practice.

And finally, a new character. I was intrigued with the overall look of the Jacobin pigeon and I thought he would be a good ally for Scarlet for- *ahem* SPOILERY REASONS THAT I CAN'T SHARE AT THE MOMENT.

I can't decide whether to call him V or Fawkes. 

Development of other aspects will be shared at a later date.

27th February

The vlog explaining the progress of the Crumbs page so far has been uploaded to Youtube. It will be handed in with  a collection of scripts for other vlogs that sadly, I will not have the time to film and record in time for the deadline.

11th March

Due to unexpected health issues, the development work has not been handed in and a later submission date is being organised. This can be used to my advantage as I will have more time to make vlogs to cover some of the stuff I wasn't able to before.

As of today, a new coloured Scarlet can be seen,

As well as the new background for the Crumbs site, in response to feedback (Jay still to be added).

14th March

All of the shirts have been completed! Click on the picture to be taken to the shirt on Redbubble.

18th March

More concept art complete- poster/print idea for Hope. As she's a religious bird, I thought it would be fitting to recreate the classic holy dove imagery: the blue sky, bright sunshine and rays and of course the dove (well, in this case fantail) itself.

And as both Ashleigh and Rachel were doing some world building for their projects, I decided to do some artwork of one of the main buildings in the comic, an abandoned building in the town that the pigeons in the city often go into for meetings, shelter and so on. I did the same building at different times and weather because I wanted to see how that particular building would look. I'd like to create more settings once I think of them in better detail.
The raining one is my favourite one I think. It was the first one I did and I think I spent the most time on it. The Secret Promise perfume ad on the side of the building is actually an affectionate nod to a GCSE Media project I did with my friend Stacey, where we had to film our own advert.

The signs will always change every time the building is seen. Think of it as a running gag.